Is This Good News?
I went to see a new doctor yeserday as I have a couple of issues after the stroke.
He prescribed two things; an MRI scan and an increased level of exercise. As the MRI scan is to be on my left arm, rather than my brain, I consider that good news. He also thought that I should up my level of fitness training and perhaps see a personal trainer.
Am I right to consider that to be good news?
I’ve certainly felt more upbeat today!
Does Cannabis Help Period Pains?
I wouldn’t know for obvious reasons, but according to The Times today, Queen Victoria was prescribed cannabis for this purpose. But it wasn’t illegal until 1928. There’s more here on the BBC Panorama web site.
What a naughty old Queen she was! Did she roll it herself or did she ask that nice Mr. Brown?
One of the Earliest Places I Can Remember Turns Up in The Times
The Times today has a piece about how some hospitals should be merged or closed because they are failing.
The headline of “17 years ago closure was needed urgently. Today, Chase Farm stays open” summarises the text well. When I used to live in Cockfosters as a child, no-one had a good word for the hospital, so I suspect it hasn’t improved much after the years. The last time I was there was to see C’s godmother, who was recovering from a stroke in the hospital and I can’t remember anything positive or negative about the visit.
But I can remember my first visit to Chase Farm Hospital in 1950. It was to collect my mother and my baby sister, who had just been born there. We parked in front of the very same building shown in The Times.
The main thrust of the article in The Times is that Peter Carter, the head of the Royal College of Nursing has said that some failing hospitals should be shut.
I would agree.
When my son was first admitted to hospital in Manchester with an illness that later turned out to be pancreatic cancer, the place was a disgrace and they failed miserably in their diagnosis. Only when we moved him to Addenbrooke’s did we learn the awful truth.
So let’s shut failing hospitals and concentrate resources on services that work. We should also move a lot of those services into the community as Dr. Carter says.
Is Stress Good For You?
This article on the BBC web site, makes an interesting point.
I’ve had enough stress in my life to satisfy a dozen people, but was it worth it?
Of course it was!
I’m with Bertrand Russell on stress.
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but pressure is the father of genius!
If you have a serious problem, then think your way out of it. Moaning just makes it worse!
Hay Fever and B12
I’m not sure if there’s a link, but last night I had some superb liver at Carluccio’s and my hay fever seems a lot better today, despite the high pollen levels. Searching for “hay fever B12” does bring some results.
Hope For Pain Sufferers
Whilst in the university, I picked up a copy of their Research Intelligence newsletter.
It fell open on an article about how Dr. Goebel at the University, has developed a new way to combat chronic pain. It is described here.
Hope For Cancer Sufferers
On Wednesday I was invited around the Cancer Trials Unit at Liverpool University. I have to declare two interests in that my youngest son died from cancer of the pancreas and I contribute in a small way to their research.
It is an impressive unit and the visit left me with the feeling, that if their attitude, thoroughness and methods are repeated in hundreds of other similar units across the world, as I suspect they are, then there may well be some better news for cancer sufferers in the future.
The Pollen Count is Going to Get Worse
I’ve just looked at the pollen count forecast on the Met Office web site. Their new system is here.
It would appear that by the weekend the levels will be high.
Yesterday, I asked a friend, who is a racehorse trainer, whether he had been affected. He personally hadn’t, but some of his horses had had hay fever like symptoms, with runny eyes.
He thought the high levels were because we had a warm April, and that has brought everything forward, so all of the pollen has come along at the same time.
Is My Right Hand Getting Worse?
I’ve had a couple of very small accidents with my right hand in the last couple of weeks. Nothing serious, but I did drop a can of Coke.
On the other hand, I had no trouble carrying the parcel to day to Canary Wharf. And for most of the journey I used my right hand to hold the prcel.
So is it a comparative thing in that my left hand is actually getting better? I’m certainly making fewer typing mistakes with it.
I don’t know, but the left hand isn’t so useless as it was. As an example, I had a pork chop today and it wielded a fork with a degree of alacrity, that wasn’t there a few months ago.
Choosing A Shampoo
I get fed up with shampoo. For years I used the same brand and then it was rebranded for split ends, more bounce, better colour etc. I just want something that gets my hair clean.
Today in Waitrose at Canary Wharf I couldn’t even find the one I changed to or the standard Essential Waitrose cheap one.
So I bought what I used to use, when the children were young; Johnson’s Baby Shampoo.
AT least it should be kind to my sore eyes.
The Anonymous Widower 